Trust, don’t verify: The talking points distributed by the White House about the Iran deal were clear: “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.” But neither that document nor the memo of understanding it referenced spell out any way in which the United States and other countries might ensure that, argues Michael A. Cohen. The deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama in 2015, by comparison, included a host of verification and enforcement provisions. If nothing else, the failed spin on the deal has shown just how badly Trump got played by the Iranians. Read more.
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Father’s Day: As Americans gather to celebrate Father’s Day, the holiday can also be difficult for many people: those with complicated relationships with their fathers, those grieving fathers they have lost and those watching their fathers suffer through painful illnesses. In a deeply personal essay, culture writer Noor Noman reflects on caring for his dying father, whose Parkinson’s disease and dementia have left him frightened, isolated and increasingly dependent on others. It is an intimate account with universal resonance, capturing the emotional strain, guilt and helplessness many families around the world experience when caring for a loved one at the end of life. Read more.
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Precedent-ial library: Obama chose not to work with the National Archives and Records Administration to build a government-run library at his new remarkable new presidential center in Chicago. But that may have the unintended consequence of making it easier for Trump to justify his own privatized presidential center, which has raised red flags because of its fundraising tactics and the greater control he will have over his records than his predecessors, argues Lauren Harper, a government secrecy expert at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The affiliated website makes it very easy to donate to Trump’s library foundation, but there’s still no evidence that he will even build it. Read more.
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Death by drone: After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the U.S. began using drones to target and kill enemy combatants. But a drone strike in Venezuela last week marked a turning point, as the U.S. is now using remote warfare in its own hemisphere, argues James Story, the ambassador to Venezuela from 2018 to 2023. For now, foreign governments are working with the U.S. on these attacks, but there’s no guarantee that will continue. The question is what happens when America’s regional partners stop answering our calls and we launch a drone strike anyway. Read more.
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Hillbilly liturgy: Vice President JD Vance was raised an evangelical, became an atheist and then converted to Catholicism. But in his new book about his faith, he shows a thin understanding of the theological underpinnings of the Catholic Church, argues Anthea Butler, a professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In the book, he comes across more as an evangelical willing to argue with church leaders about theology — as he did when he confronted two different popes. And despite a compelling section demonstrating his love for his wife, the book only makes it more sad that he has publicly expressed the wish that she would convert. Read more.
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Three pitchers on the San Francisco Giants wrote Bible verses on their Pride-themed caps, ostensibly as a way to reclaim the symbol of the rainbow from the LGBTQ+ rights movement. But the Bible verse they chose — Genesis 9:12-16 — doesn’t mean what they think, argues Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, vice president at the Interfaith Alliance. In the verse, the waters from the Great Flood have started to recede and God sends a rainbow as a sign of the new “covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh” to never again send a flood. “‘Every living creature of all flesh” is about as universal as language gets, Graves-Fitzsimmons writes. “It’s the opposite of exclusion and zero-sum thinking. God’s love is for everyone.” The pitchers’ actions show they have read right past the important parts of the Bible. Read the column here.
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